South Australia 2017-18 State Budget

South Australian Treasurer, Tom Koutsantonis announced the 2017-18 State Budget this week. With the looming departure of Holden, there were many grants that were updated or announced.

Jobs and Business
The Future Jobs Fund will be created to drive economic growth and will total $200M over three components. To support job creation there will be $50M in grants and $70M in low interest loans; there will be $30M in grant funding and $30M in loans to attract new inward investment in key industries; and another $20M in other measures to support growth in local industries.

Some other assistance for business includes:
• Job Accelerator Grants will increased by up to $5,000 for each new apprentice and trainee hired, in addition to the existing grants of up to $10,000, supporting an estimated 2,000 positions.
• Program for Accelerating Exploration (PACE) will receive $5 million over four years for discovery drilling to unlock the state’s mineral and gas riches.
• $100,000 in grants will enable Business SA to use inbound trade missions to create business-to-business connections.

Community
Grants in the Community space are headlined by the $40M Fund My Neighbourhood program. This will allow the community to decide which projects receive government funding, using the framework of the Fund My Community initiative run via the yourSAy platform.

Other highlights include:
• $5 million for the creation of Community Infrastructure Investment Fund which will provide once-off grants to multicultural and community organisations for infrastructure and equipment.
• Additional support of $14 million to increase the Women’s Sporting Facilities Fund to $20 million over two years to support sport and recreation organisations in addressing barriers to female participation.
• $20 million over two years in grants to sporting clubs for artificial playing surfaces for soccer, netball, hockey and other sports.